Kerry Warns North Korea, But Holds Out Hope For Diplomacy

April 12, 2013

Walking a line meant to show both resolve and willingness to trust in diplomacy, Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday warned North Korea not to engage in more warmongering — but also said the U.S. is willing to talk with that communist state if it is serious about discussing denuclearization.

“No one is going to talk for the sake of talking,” Kerry said, but the U.S. does want to see a peaceful resolution of the latest crisis on the Korean peninsula.

“We will defend our allies. We will stand with South Korea, Japan and others against these threats and we will defend ourselves,” Kerry also pledged during a visit to Seoul.

But, he added, the U.S. is also hoping to cool the rhetoric coming from Pyongyang.

Kerry said it would be a mistake for North Korea to follow through on what appear to be plans to test fire a ballistic missile in coming days.

“If North Korea decided to fire [the missile] it would really be one more, unnecessary, unfortunate, unwanted contribution to an already volatile, potentially dangerous situation,” the secretary said.

Kerry’s trip, which will include a visit to China — where he will urge its leaders to put pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — comes as:

— The Pentagon’s intelligence unit warns North Korea may have developed the technology to create nuclear weapons that are small enough to fit on a long-range missile. Other U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies disagree with that analysis, though.

— North Korea warns it has weapons ” ‘on standby’ … though it has not revealed specific plans to fire a missile or carry out another nuclear test.”

As we wrote Thursday, a case can be made that North Korea might soon declare “victory” and stand down. You can see all our recent posts about the situation here.

Support for NEPR.net is provided by:

Participate

Take a tour of the Springfield headquarters of NEPR! Free, public tours take place monthly at 5 p.m. on Thursdays. The guided tour will take you through the NEPR newsroom, studios, music library and technical operations room, and will tell you about our history and mission.